Charming Christmas Present Quilt

The Flurry quilt by Kate Spain is showing up all over blog land.  The project sheet for the quilt she designed is available for download at The Fat Quarter Shop and is made with a layer cake. 

Since I had a Flurry charm pack and only wanted a wall hanging this is what I've had on my design wall the past few days.  I used the idea from the Flurry project sheet and made my blocks smaller.  My wall hanging is approximately 35" X 40".

I really love these fabrics.

Here is how I made my wallhanging.  You will need approximately:

1 yard of white fabric ( I used Kona Cotton)
Red and green scraps for the ribbon and bow. 
One charm pack or 5" squares of Christmas fabrics.

For the blocks you will need:

1 charm square (or any 5" square of Christmas fabric)
Ribbon fabric (green in the photo above):
   Cut 1  - 1 1/4" X 5"
   Cut 2  - 1 3/4" X 1 3/4"
Background:
   Cut 2  - 1 3/4" X 1 3/4"
   Cut 1  - 1 3/4" X 2 3/4"

Cut the charm square in half.  Sew the 1 1/4" X 5" green fabric between the charm square halves as shown.

The green squares will be sewn onto the 1 3/4" X 2 3/4" background rectangle using the connector corner method.  Place right sides together and sew diagonally.  You can either mark the diagonal line with a pen or chalk, press the square in half diagonally to mark the line, or you can just eyeball and sew from corner to corner.

I trim away the excess fabric at the corner before pressing the corner down.

Now place the second green square on right sides together and sew.  Trim the excess and press. 

Here is the piece from the back side.  When using connector corners sometimes the top triangles end up outside of the original rectangle. 

I trim the piece so that it measures the original 1 3/4" X 2 3/4". 

Now the units are ready to put together.

These blocks are fast and easy to make.

You could make a Christmas pillow from just one block with a border or two. 

To finish the wall hanging cut sashing 2 1/2" wide and cornerstones 2 1/2" X 2 1/2".   I quartered charm squares to make the cornerstones.  The outside white border is cut at 1 1/2" wide. 

Thanks to Judy L at www.patchworktimes.com for hosting Design Wall Monday.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today! 

Stay At Home Round Robin

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted.  This past week has really flown by.  I've visited my daughter and taken a road trip to a quilt shop I hadn't been to in several months, and I've done some sewing, too. 

 

I'm in a round robin with several gals that I see a couple of times a year at the Dear Jane retreat up in Shipshewana, Indiana.  I just finished my round on that quilt and passed it on to the next person on the list.  

I have also joined a stay at home round robin.  Sunny over at  Quilting Dreams blog is our hostess and has set up a page there with our guidelines.  She has also set up a Flickr page where we can post photos of our quilts.   

This is my center:

The round robin that I just worked on had a Dresden Plate center, and I loved it so much that I could hardly wait to work on my round.  So I chose a Dresden for my stay at home robin center, and I'm using the Bliss pieces that I have plus some other pieces from my stash.

Our centers are to be between 12" and 16".  The directions for our first border have been posted, and we are going to do a round with 3" triangles.  It can be either 3 rounds of triangles that are each an inch, or one row with 3" triangles or hourglass blocks.  We have a month to complete each round, and I'm really looking forward to being a part of this.

You can still join in because we've just started.  You can go over to Sunny's blog and join in the fun and check out our progress at the Flickr group. 

I hope you are all finding some time to stitch today.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit! 

Dear Jane Christmas Signature Quilt Finished

I've finished another UFO - my Dear Jane Christmas signature quilt.  On one of the Dear Jane lists someone thought it would be fun to have a signature block swap using Christmas fabrics.  This swap took place in 2008, and since this was a "first" I signed up.  Here is my finished quilt:

It was a lot of fun arranging and rearranging the blocks.  There are blocks in this quilt from old friends that I've known for many years and new friends that I have met through blogging. 


I machine quilted this quilt on my Bernina. 

I used the striped continuous bias binding from my last post.  Here is how it looks against the red border.....

and the green.......

I love doing this leaf quilting pattern to fill in a border. 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

I hope you are having a good weekend and finding a few minutes to do some stitching!!!! 

Continuous Bias Binding Tutorial

I'm editing this post so that you all know that this method of making continuous bias binding was not my original idea.  I found a tutorial on one of the quilting self help sites, and followed it step by step and came up with this. Actually I ended up with 2 of these "hats".....so I wrote my own tutorial.

This is not the traditional way of making continuous bias binding, but I always seem to get the triangles of fabric in the wrong place.  So here is a tutorial of a method that I found to make continuous bias binding that I think is quick and easy.

I first bought a 3/4 yard of fabric.  You need to begin with a square.  My square is 27".

Fold this square in half with right sides together matching the selvages.  Sew around the 3 sides using a 1/4" seam.  (Don't sew on the folded edge.)

Now you can turn your sewing machine off.  This is all of the sewing you need to do.

Draw a diagonal line from one corner to the other.

Clip the corners where you just drew the lines.....

You just need to clip enough in order to be able to get your scissors in between the fabric layers.

Now flip the square over and repeat the last step on the opposite corners (the ones that are NOT clipped yet).  After you've drawn this line, clip these two corners.

Carefully cut on the lines being sure to cut the layers separately.

Now pick the fabric up and form it into a tube. Press the seams.

Even up the edges.

Now draw lines on the tube the width of your preferred binding.  But, don't draw these lines all the way to the top....stop about 6 inches from the top of the tube. 

This is a better photo.  With your rotary cutter cut the binding strips stopping approximately where you see the line in the photo below.

Now pick up the tube and rotate it until the uncut portion is centered on the cutting mat. 

Draw lines to connect the strips on the bottom with the next one diagonally on the top as shown in the photo below.  Next cut on these lines with scissors. 

That step is hard to explain but hopefully the picture will help explain it. 

Press the binding in half.  From 3/4 yard of fabric I ended up with 8 yards 7 inches of binding. 

Below is bias binding that I made from a yard of fabric.  The piece at the left is left over from cutting the square and can go in my scrap bin.  The little pile in the middle is all of the waste from making the binding. 

I really like this method and hope you will give it a try. 

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to email me at krugla@gmail.com

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Binding A UFO

I've been machine quilting another UFO.  As soon as I get the binding hand stitched, I'll post a photo of another finish.
This is continuous bias binding, and I found a quick and easy way to make it.  I'm working on a tutorial to post in a day or two so you can see how to make it step by step.  I really like making bias binding from striped fabric because it looks like the stripes wrap right around the edge of the quilt. 

I started with a 36" square of fabric.  I cut my binding at 2 1/4" wide, and I ended up with a bit over 15 yards of binding.  

I've been spending a lot of time working on my border for the next round robin that I have.  Here is a bit of one of the blocks.

Stay tuned for my continuous bias binding tutorial. 

I hope you are finding some time to stitch. 

Thanks for visiting today! 

Giant Granny Quilt Along - 50 rounds

I've just completed 50 rounds on my Giant Granny Square blanket.  There are quite a few of us that have joined the crochet along over at Sucrette's blog. 

I plan to keep going on this blanket even though it is fairly large right now.  In the next photo you can see how large it is compared to the size of the chair.  It would already be a cozy wrap at this size.  But there is still yarn left, so I will add a few more rounds.  Those of you that know me are laughing because you know I always have a good stash of yarn!!!

I'm going to try to come up with a pattern, chart or tutorial that will show how you do a granny square for those that want to make either this blanket or smaller granny squares.  I'll post that over on my crochet blog soon. 

  I hope you are having a good week and finding some time to stitch. 

Thanks for visiting!

Garden Fence Blocks On My Design Wall

You know that there is a lot of temptation out there in blog land.  There is always something fun that you can be a part of or some new fabrics you can see (or buy) or a new quilting idea that you can try.  

Lately, I've been noticing all of the Garden Fence blocks on some of my favorite blogs.  The blocks are all so different, and I can't stop looking at them.  So I had a weak moment. 

I went over to McIntyre Girl's blog just to have a look around.  She is hosting the quilt along.  Then I decided maybe I would just make enough of these blocks for a table runner.  I know you're laughing.  How many times have you said that?  I'll just make a few blocks-----just enough for a table runner or small wall hanging?    

Here's what I have done so far.  These blocks finish at 10", and there are no seams to match.  Honest!  They go together very quickly and easily. 

I may need a bigger table at this rate.  I'm using a Lovely layer cake by Moda that I've been saving for something special, and I thought the florals would be perfect for this project.  I picked up 3 different shades of Kona Cotton to try out for the sashing.  I have more fabric left so maybe I'll make just a few more blocks.   The quilt along instructions use either a fat quarter or regular quarter of fabric, but the dimensions work for a layer cake. 

Thanks to Judy L. at Patchwork Times for hosting Design Wall Monday. 

Be sure to visit McIntyre Girl's blog.  Besides being a quilter and hosting the Garden Fence quilt along, she just gave birth to her 3rd daughter. 

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today. 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!